Vital Nutrition Blogs

Eat More Vegetables!

This post sort of goes hand-in-hand with my previous post about acquired tastes. I think one of the biggest things people have trouble trying are vegetables. As the human race we have an innate preference for things that are sweet, like fruit, and so we choose fruits over vegetables most of the time. Without a doubt fruits are good for us, but so are vegetables! Vegetables are also lower in sugar than fruit, which makes them slightly better for us than fruits.

Why are vegetables so good for us?

They are nutrient dense. This means that they are packed with a large number of nutrients for very few calories

The majority of vegetables are calorie-free, which means you aren’t going to be packing on the pounds by eating vegetables. Nobody has ever gained weight form eating leafy greens! 😉

Vegetables are full of complex carbs and fibre, which make you feel full faster and longer

Vegetables are fat-free and cholesterol-free

Take a look at this picture that illustrates just how little calories vegetables have, as well as how many nutrient, vitamin and mineral filled vegetables you can eat compared to other less-healthy foods:

People don’t realize just how positive of an effect vitamins and minerals from vegetables have on our bodies. Vitamin/mineral deficiency can cause things like skin breakouts, fatigue, muscle and joint pain, pale skin, teeth problems, heartburn and even depression! For more symptoms of vitamin/mineral deficiency, check out the charts I posted in Vitamins & Minerals.

All in all, vegetables really aren’t the enemy. They do much more good than bad to our bodies, despite what you vegetables “haters” might think! I understand that they might not be as tasty or appealing as other foods, BUT, there are ways to cook/eat vegetables that can make them tasty! There are also so many different kinds of vegetables that there really is no excuse to not have some vegetables in your diet (and by some I mean more than a handful of baby carrots a day.) Yes, you have to start somewhere but if you want to reap the full benefits of vegetables, you’re going to need more than that a day! The more you include vegetables in your diet, the more you will get used to them and the better you will feel! I promise!